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for its COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) program;
SpaceX Dragon (7 passenger!):
Rocketplane (suborbital):
WASHINGTON -- NASA announced Friday that it has picked El Segundo, Calif.-based Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Rocketplane Kistler of Oklahoma City to share $500 million the U.S. space agency intends to spend through 2010 to stimulate the development of new commercial delivery services for the International Space Station.
NASA made the awards under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration program. SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler beat our four other finalists for the awards: Seattle-based Andrews Space; Poway, Calif.-based SpaceDev; Houston-based SpaceHab; and Reston, Va.-based Transformational Space Corp.
The larger of the two COTS awards went to SpaceX, which will receive $278 million in NASA seed money to help fund the development and flight demonstration of Dragon, a ballistic capsule launch atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket currently in development.
Rocketplane Kistler, meanwhile, would receive $207 million to help complete the K-1 reusable rocket and develop a cargo module that, like Dragon, could later be modified to carry astronauts to the space station.
“Getting to and from space is difficult,†Scott Horowitz, NASA associate administrator for exploration systems, said Friday in making the announcement. “Doing it safely, reliably, and cost effectively is even more difficult and that’s what we are asking our partners to do.â€
NASA made the awards under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration program. SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler beat our four other finalists for the awards: Seattle-based Andrews Space; Poway, Calif.-based SpaceDev; Houston-based SpaceHab; and Reston, Va.-based Transformational Space Corp.
The larger of the two COTS awards went to SpaceX, which will receive $278 million in NASA seed money to help fund the development and flight demonstration of Dragon, a ballistic capsule launch atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket currently in development.
Rocketplane Kistler, meanwhile, would receive $207 million to help complete the K-1 reusable rocket and develop a cargo module that, like Dragon, could later be modified to carry astronauts to the space station.
“Getting to and from space is difficult,†Scott Horowitz, NASA associate administrator for exploration systems, said Friday in making the announcement. “Doing it safely, reliably, and cost effectively is even more difficult and that’s what we are asking our partners to do.â€
Rocketplane (suborbital):
